Way in the Universe
by That guy with the pipe
Summary: An OC story about a Mandalorian and former Clone Trooper from my unfinished Story Rise of a Mandalorian. Nothing but pure unadulterated OC for the enjoyment of others. Rated M for violence.
1. Chapter 1

The hired weequay bodyguard stepped up and looked through the tall top floor suite windows overlooking the bustling city of Nar Shaddaa. The electrobinoculars zoomed in on the gray skinned alien who watched the busy airspeeder traffic clearly bored out of his primitive mind. _It won't be boring much longer my friend soon you'll have to start earning those credits like the rest of us._ Cassus thought shifting the electrobinoculars over to a different abandoned building a click and a half away from the target building where a tall red scaled trandoshan attached a heavy E-web repeater to a mounted tripod. Cassus stored the electrobinoculars on his belt and took the mandalorian helmet out from under his arm bring it over his head and locking the seal. He keyed the comlink in his helmet patched himself through to the trandoshan. "How's that heavy repeater coming along Krissik?" he asked taking the time to check his own equipment for good measure. Carbine, blaster pistol, thermal tape, detonator, flash bangs, all check.

"Be ready ssoon Cassusss." The trandoshan's said in his rough hissing voice his kind all spoke in. "Thiss weapon issn't in the besst condition." It was true; Cassus had acquired the weapon from a local dealer at a bargain, the repeater was anything but new and shiny. In fact it was a relic probably from the Clone Wars, just like him. But Cassus didn't need the weapon to work flawlessly; he just needed it to work. It's not like he'd be keeping the weapon after this encounter. The weapon might as well serve this purpose before it rusted away.

"Do you trust it to work well enough?" He asked his partner trusting him to decide if the weapon would perform up to standards and provide an adequate shock and awe effect.

"Yesss" he answered him setting the discussion.

Cassus continued to check his gear, sedative darts, grenades, spare power cells, grappling hook. He secured his jetpack and checked his harnesses making sure they were secure on his armor. Jango had taught him that checking and rechecking his equipment was never a waste of time, during ARC Trooper training Fett had ingrained countless lessons into his psyche. He turned his attention back to the top floor suite zooming in with his helmets visor. It didn't have the same magnification as the electrobinoculars but he didn't need to be able to count the specks of dirt on the windows. The weequay was still observing traffic outside like before looking bored at his security job. _If you keep standing there di'kut you're going to die bored._ Whatever local security firm was providing security for this suite it was very inadequate. He now wondered if the target had hired these di'kute because they didn't know good security when they saw it or if they were just too cheap to hire proper men who didn't waste time sitting bored and exposed at the windows. A white furred bothan stepped into view and he smirked to himself keying his comlink to his team. "Target is confirmed Fov'Lay is in his suite, what's everyone's status?"

"All ready over here Cassusss." Krissik hissed into his ear.

"What about you Naya?" Cassus asked hoping his pilot was doing more to earn her share than just twiddle her thumbs and waiting in the spaceport for a simple run. She had the simplest job with the absolute least amount of risk but somehow still managed to gripe about her share of the bounty. Flying a ship wasn't that hard but she'd walk away if she made a credit less than anyone else.

"I can lift off here in five minutes Cassus, just be sure you're on the east side of that building when I arrive, and with our bounty alive, I don't need to tell you this guy is worthless dead." The twi'lek sounded off in his ear making him inwardly sigh to himself. Much as he hated her less than sunny disposition she was undoubtedly one of better pilots in this line of work. Not that he'd admit that to her, she'd most likely try raising her rates if she though he did anything less than tolerate her and accept her skills as nothing more than adequate at most. One time she had managed to fly him and their cargo in and out of an imperial garrison without making a single stormtrooper turn their heads in suspicion. When she asked if he was impressed with her handiwork he lied and told her he'd seen his fellow clones preform just as well back in the war. It wasn't a complete lie but the only pilots that had managed to fly that far under enemy sensors had been something else completely. Not like she needed to know that. But despite the girls greed she was one of the few people he could trust almost absolutely. And a combination of talented and trustworthy where a rare blend in this galaxy. So he put up with her trying to haggle up her cut of the bounties. But then again he didn't need an expert pilot to pull this particular stunt off. Heck any pilot could do this in their sleep. He supposed at the end of the day he just liked having Naya around so he could argue with someone and be assured that no matter what rock he happened to be on at the time she could fly him off in any rusty crate with engines.

"That's easy for you to say Naya; you're not the one who's going to get shot at." He said into his comlink checking the scope of his M5 carbine another of his souvenirs from the Clone Wars. Unlike that E-web however he had kept his weapon in pristine condition.

"What do you mean I won't get shot at?" she huffed. "Once I extract your ass Cassus those meatheads are probably going to start taking pot shots at me."

"What are you afraid of Naya? Them singing the paint off with those hand blasters?" he prodded knowing full well her ship would withstand whatever small arms where in that villa.

"If they do I'm charging you to get her repainted Cassus." She growled and Cassus cut the comlink letting her growl her threats into nothing but static. That was sure to get her panties in a little twist.

"Arguing with Naya again Cassus?" his helmets visor pulled up a holofeed of a purple skinned hutt. Gruka was her name; Cassus knew that technically hutts weren't defined by gender since they were all asexual gastropods. But Gruka's name and voice sounded more feminine and it was easier in his mind to think of the expert slicer as a she than it "it". The fact that Gruka was willing to talk in galactic basic instead of her native huttese was already very unusual for her kind. The fact that she was willing to make a living as a bounty hunter and get her hands dirty slicing into security systems and secure files just about made her a separate species entirely.

"Not really it was a boring conversation anyway." He said dismissing the hutt's attempt at small talk. He wanted off this cesspool as soon as possible. It was one of the reasons he envied the slicer, as long as Gruka could access what they needed through the HoloNet she could slice into it parsecs away. Even something that wasn't connected to the HoloNet like a hotels security system could be sliced into so long as Cassus manually connected a specialized transmitter custom made by the hutt herself into the Hotels systems connecting it to the HoloNet and giving Gruka a backdoor into the computer terminals. Cassus had installed one of those handy little devices into one of the hotels computers just yesterday. It had taken him a few hours to find a terminal to attach it to without being noticed. It had only taken Gruka two minutes to slice in after words. If Naya was handy to keep around then Gruka was irreplaceable.

"You got that turbolift under control?" He asked knowing full well that the competent hutt had managed to take control of all the hotels systems, the turbolifts were almost an afterthought to Gruka.

"It's not going anywhere Cassus unless I want it to. Is everyone ready?" She said.

"Looks like it Gruka just keep your slimy hands ready in case things change. And keep your eyes on that security feed and let me know if anything goes wrong." Cassus opened the comm channel to Krissik and Naya. "You on that gun Krissik?" he asked making a final inspection on his gear and weapons. He could think of a thousand other ways he could be spending his time right now. And every one of them seemed to be wasteful compared to checking his equipment for the umpteenth time.

"Ready when you are Cassusss." The trandoshan hissed into his ear enthusiastically.

"What about you Naya?" he asked the twi'lek.

"CASSUS IF YOU EVER CUT ME OFF WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU AGAIN I'LL MAKE YOU REGRET THAT YOU WERE EVER CLONED." She yelled into his ear making him flinch a little in his helmet.

"It's not like I've never heard that before." he murmured under his breath.

"WHAT?" she screamed again into his ear.

"Nothing" he answered making a note that his comlink's microphone was a lot more sensitive than he'd given it credit before. "Are you in the air Naya or not?"

"Of course I'm on the ground what do you think I'm doing here Cassus?" She huffed; Cassus could almost see the image of Naya pouting in her ships cockpit at him.

"Good so let's get to the hard part then. Krissik I want you to open fire as in thirty seconds, just keep them pinned down and watch your fire we can't have you hitting me or Fov'Lay. Just make them think you're the star of the show. Naya be ready for that pickup in three minutes." They both acknowledged him and he keyed off his mic. He gave his jetpack and systems once last glance over and started running across the roof jumping over the edge and keying the controls sending him flying towards the hotel suite. He zoomed in with his helmet and saw the same weequay standing at the window. Then Krissik opened up with his E-web. The first bolt melted thought the transparisteel window and caught the weequay showering him in molten slag and plasma instantly burning his body away instantly. _Looks like you died bored di'kut._ The Transparisteel of the windows were torn away as the heavy repeater tore away everything in its path setting fire to the wooden furnishings. A few security guards stepped up to the windows trying to get a fix on the attacker's location only to be disintegrated by the lash of fire. Even if they could locate Krissik Cassus doubted they had anything with a long enough range to touch him. And with the turbolift out of commission and Gruka controlling the doors to the fire stairs they had no place to run. Cassus touched down on the east side as Krissik fired in from the north. He let off the jetpack and fired his magnetic grapple attached to his belt. It attached to a durasteel wall and reeled himself up to the wall. He hit the side of the building hard enough to get the wind knocked out of him and needed to take a second to recover. He pulled his thermal detonator tape out from his belt and started outlining an entrance wide enough for two people to fit through. He moved to the side clearing away from the outline and grabbed the detonator. "Breaching." He said into the comlink telling Krissik to get off the E-web and get to something with a little more precision out. I'd be a shame to die by friendly fire at a time like this. Cassus keyed the detonator and the tape blew shattering the durasteel and making his entrance. Leave it to your average hutts to cut corners on their own buildings. The durasteel walls were thin here according to the blueprints Gruka had pulled up. If it had been thicker he would have needed a larger shape charge to make a door with but then there would be a good chance that would kill those behind the wall including their little white furred target. The large metal slab fell out gripped by gravity and fell down into the depths of Nar Shadda. Cassus tossed in a flashbang and grabbed his M5 carbine. As soon as he heard the bang he swung in disengaging the magnetic grapple and bringing the carbine to bear. Two guards lay on the floor stunned by the flashbang clutching their ears in agony. He put them out of their misery with two clean shots and moved it further checking his corners. Another Weequay popped out from behind an overturned table for makeshift cover when a shot caught him from the side and neutralizing him. Krissik could always be counted on to provide cover fire in situations like this. A large Nikto popped out from cover bringing a rifle to bear, behind him a white bothan sprinted for the stairs. Cassus put two into the Nikto's chest and brought his left gauntlet up firing off the wrist mounted dart launcher and catching the bothan in the back with the sedative and making him plop down on the floor unconscious.

"Retrieving target, cover me." He announced snapping back to his carbine and moving to recover Fov'Lay he crouched by the bothan and grabbed him by the fur dragging him across the floor towards the hole he had breached in the durasteel wall. He let the carbine fall to his side hanging by its sling as he began attaching the harnesses to the furry bothan strapping his target on his chest and securing him to his chest.

"Target secure, Naya what's your ETA?" he asked drawing his DC17S blaster pistol and taking aim to cover the hallway. He would have preferred his carbine but it's significantly harder to aim and shoulder a rifle when you have a big harry rat strapped to your chest.

"Thirty seconds helmet head." Said Naya. "I didn't expect you to finish up so fast, how about next time you give the bastards a chance." She huffed as if it was his fault she was late.

"Ssoft ones coming your way Cassusss." Krissik said meaning a fair number of guards were going to be here soon. He cursed seeing that there wasn't any real cover for him to get behind. He crouched and angled his body so he was mostly covering Fov'Lay's body with his own trusting his armor to protect his target. He aimed his pistol downrange and hoped he didn't seriously have to use it. Shooting a pistol one handed and your arm outstretched at an awkward angle was anything but accurate, he didn't really hope to hit anything like this but if the security was cautious he could pin them down with a suppressive fire. He didn't doubt that these scumbags would kill Fov'Lay if they had to. The bothan was an information broker and associate of the hutts. His employer wanted him alive with his mind and knowledge intact. But he was more than positive that the guards were told that it the hutts couldn't have Fov'Lay then no one could. He cursed this furry hut'uun for weighing so much, if he was lighter he could use his jetpack but that was hoping for too much right now.

Several men shuffled into view and Cassus fired trying to pin them down. Krissik took another one out with his sniper rifle and the guards scrambled to find cover taking whatever form of protection they could find. Cassus fired at anything that moved hitting just close enough to make anyone who peaked there head out at him think twice. A bolt caught his back and ricocheted off the beskar plate. The guards where popping off pot shots and shooting around there cover in blind fire, inaccurate but a hit is a hit and they could kill you all the same. The sound of roaring engines drew his attention to the city outside. A black and orange HWK-290 freighter came into view overhead. "Get your Mandalorian clone ass out of there Cassus right now!" Naya yelled into his ear.

Cassus didn't need to be told anything else as he grabbed for his grapple and fired off the magnetic end attaching it to the hull of the freighter and jumping out the entrance firing his pistol to keep them at bay and letting the cable catch him and his target they swung on the cable as Cassus keyed his comlink. "Take us away Naya." He ordered the twi'lek turning to pace the building and bringing his blaster to bear on the breached entrance and fired seeing the guards gather around the opening rifles in hand. Even with both hands and a frontal stance shooting while hanging from a moving freighter didn't help his accuracy much either. The some of the guards took cover but even still some held their ground and took more accurate stances going prone or taking a knee before shooting. The shots were rather wild and between the moving of the ship and the swinging cable I'd be almost impossible for anyone to make that shot no matter how skilled they were.

A damn lucky shot was a different matter entirely.

The red bolt caught Fov'Lay in the chest completely by luck. The cable swung into its path almost suddenly if he had seen that coming he would have shielded the bothan. The bolt had burned through his harry flesh and ribcage and all the way through his body being stopped by his armor. The bothan was dead, plain and simple. The bounty was for alive; his employer had no use for the fuzz ball if he was dead, corpses didn't talk after all. And if the customer wasn't going to pay for a corpse then there was no reason to hang onto it. Cassus released the harnesses and let the body go. It was dead weight now, literally. He let the corpse fall down into the city below. He sighed watching his lost credits fall away from him into the shadows of Nar Shadda. Time credits and planning all wasted. And worse of all Naya was going to have a fit about this once she found out.


	2. Concord Dawn

"YOU WHAT!?" Naya screamed after he had explained to her what had happened with Fov'Lay once they had touched down at the pickup point for Krissik.

"He was a corpse Naya all he would have done was take up space on your ship and rot." He explained to the orange skinned twi'lek stripping the harnesses from his body ignoring her and deciding it was best to keep his helmet on in case she decided she felt like hitting him. If she decided to take it to blows she be breaking her hand on his armor.

"I have a medical droid on board we could have used Cassus you could have at least waited for his diagnosis before letting our credits go." She pouted crossing her arms and leaning against the ship's hull and pulling out a cigarette to ease her anger before she decided to do something rash.

"He had a hole burned in his chest Naya." He explained holding up his clenched armored fist. "This big, I'm not a medic but I know dead when I see it."

"Krissik stepped out on the roof his sniper rifle sling across his back. "Our prey aboard?" he asked. Cassus was glad Krissik wasn't able to see his face behind his helmet as Naya answered him.

"No the targets dead Krissik. Meaning we just wasted our damn time and Cassus here owes me for starship fuel."

"I don't owe you anything Naya; you know as well as I do there's no insurance in this line of work." He said as Krissik stepped up on the loading ramp. The trandoshan didn't seem to be disturbed by having lost the bounty. Krissik understood as much as anyone that plans didn't always turn out as well as they should, something's were just beyond control. Not that it would have changed much even if he was particularly upset. Cassus was Krissik's ghrakhowsk, meaning the reptile was bound to him via a life debt. It had happened to him three years ago working a job on Balmorra. It was a rather messy job; an associate of his had asked him to help him with a job, wanting a good crew to help steal a prototype assassin droid. During the heist Cassus had shielded Krissik and the rest of the crew from a grenade blast with his body. The armor had taken the blast just fine but Krissik who had been closest to the explosion had insisted he owed his life him. And thus the life debt had begun much to Cassus's dismay. Or at least that's how it was at the time. It didn't take very long for them to become friends. Krissik wasn't your typical trandoshan who would stoop to every low they could to earn their Jagannath point for their goddess the Scorekeeper. In Krissik's own words Jagannath points earned through acts of dishonor weren't worth having. After hunting together for three years Cassus wouldn't trade Krissik away for an entire fleet of star destroyers and their crews.

"Insurance maybe not." Agreed Naya stretching out and stepping onto the ramp behind Krissik throwing away her half-finished cigarette. "But it's only fair since I'm the one hauling one who's going to be you two back to Concord Dawn since your ships been taken out of commission."

Cassus winced remembering, damn pirates totaled his engines and hyperdrive a few months ago. He'd been planning to find a replacement ever since but his bills outweighed his credits. Dari's farm was hardly pulling in the money it could. In fact it was barely managing to pay the farmworkers or keep the harvest droids working properly and up to date. He didn't have money for a ship right now. He was hoping to change that with Fov'Lay's bounty but that one had slipped through his fingers. Cassus sighed to himself and surrendered not feeling up to arguing with Naya right now. "Fine I guess I can spare fuel money."

…..

"Thanks for the lift Naya." Cassus said stepping off the loading ramp and setting foot back on Concord Dawn.

"Hey you footed the bill for the fuel so I might as well take you home. It's not like you can bring that armor aboard a public transport helmet head." She answered tossing one of her orange lekku behind her head and turning back towards the loading ramp.

"How about a drink" he offered her not feeling ready to return home and explain to Dari that the job had been a complete failure. He might as well get a drink while he had the chance. Dari didn't keep alcohol in the house after all.

"No I'm good." She said dismissing the offer. "I got light-years to burn and some money to earn. And don't bother calling me for a job for the next couple months. I'm going to be busy helmet head."

"Smuggling." He said, it wasn't a question.

"Well since I'm not collecting any bounties. Girl's got to eat somehow." She said a sense of accusation hanging in her voice.

"Well then see you later." He said as she disappeared inside her ship. Cassus turned away and started off with Krissik by his side not bothering to watch the freighter take off. Cassus kept his helmet tucked under his arm as he left the spaceport and walked the now all too familiar path to his favorite cantina.

"More prey will crosss our path ssoon Cassusss." Krissis said encouragingly to him clearly sensing his still dampened spirits. "And the next won't escape our path."

"I hope your right." He said turning into the smoky cantina.

A young teenage girl turned spotting him as he entered in with the tall red scaled trandoshan in tow. "Oh Cassus your back." She said as he moved to take a table in the back.

"Hello Liara." He said greeting the waitress. Liara was the younger sister of Kent one of the farm hands that helped with Dari's farm. He wasn't a mandalorian but he was a good a good kid trying to take care of his little sister. And he never complained if he had to wait a month or two to get paid for his work on the farm.

"How'd the hunt go?" She asked as he placed his helmet on the table and faced his back against the wall as he always did. "Don't ask." He sighed.

"Awe that's too bad." She said giving him a comforting smile. "I'll be back in a second with your usual and you can tell me all about it."

Krissik took the seat beside him and leaned his favorite bowcaster against the wall within easy reach. The weapon was one of his most prized trophies having taken it off a slain wookie warrior in his youth. "I'll have a raw nerf steak hatchling." Said Krissik tapping his claws on the table audibly. Coming to this cantina was almost a ritual after a hunt. Although usually it was for a drink to celebrate a successful hunt. Usually he'd enjoy his whiskey while regaling Liara with the details of his recent hunt. She tended to get wide eyed when it came to stories about catching bounties and seeing the rest of the galaxy. Now and then he'd give her a story of two he had from the clone wars. She was always eager to listen to his tales.

Liara returned with a glass of his usual Corellian whiskey and Krissik's raw steak. "Vor entye." Krissik said thanking her in Mando'a. After Krissik became indentured to him he had decided to learn mando'a. So far he had done well learning the Mandalorian language. Cassus wondered how Krissik would respond if he decided to get him a suit of armor and make him a Mandalorian. He'd have to see about that someday. As far as he knew being a Mandalorian didn't stop a trandoshan from earning Jagannath points. But then again what did he know about trandoshan theology?

"So what happened?" she asked sitting down across the table from him elbows on the table and her head cradled in her hands. Cassus gave her a wry smile and began recalling the events hoping the girl's youthful energy and curiosity of the vast galaxy would lift his spirits.

He told her how he'd breached the hotel's villa and stormed through the place to capture Fov'Lay. He was just going over the details of the botched extraction when she stood up to go serve another customer asking him to stay long enough to finish the story.

Krissik crewed on his raw steak tearing the strip of meat up with his claws and feeding the bloody ribbons into his toothy maw. "We sshould sspeak to Ember about local prey." He said now that Liara was occupied serving a devaronian and his two rodian friends at a nearby table.

"That's a good idea; she's good at keeping track of local bounties." He said looking into the contents of the glass taking note of the blasters on the customer's hips in his peripheral vision. Ember was a local Journeyman Protector and friend of the family. She was practically the local sheriff around here and every now and she'd tip him and Krissik off about a possible bounty for them to cash in on. And with the harvest season just around the corner they'd need whatever they could get their hands on to keep things running smoothly. And if there was one thing Ember wouldn't allow for it was Dari's farm to fall through.

"Excuse me." Cassus said standing up and stepping towards the other table. That brown skinned Devaronian was starting to get a little handsy with Liara. Her brother Kent worried about her working here whit all sorts of fringers coming into this establishment. Most of the locals were polite enough to keep their hands off but now and then a new face or traveler needed to be put in line. Cassus grabbed the Devaronian's wrist as he impudently reached for Liara's rear.

"The lady's shebs are off limits di'kut." He said locking his left hand around the aliens forearm. The horned head turned to look and him and his right hand reached for his blaster. Cassus twisted his arm around behind him snapping it at the elbow. Blood sprayed his face as the shattered bone broke through the skin. The devaronian screamed as the bone audibly broke, Cassus slammed his armored palm into the back of the aliens head bashing his skull against the durasteel table. One of the alien's horns shattered against the metal and the screams stopped. He either killed the letch or knocked him out. Either way it very clear what happened when you drew a blaster on him. A little apology could have saved the man a lot of trouble, maybe even his life. The two rodians didn't get the idea however. They stood up so fast the chairs tumbled to the floor behind them, they had already cleared their blasters from their holsters, before they could move them an inch in his directions one of their heads exploded in a gory mess. Clearly Krissik had been faster grabbing his bowcaster. The second paused looking to his possibly dead friend on the table with a steadily growing pool of blood and his certainly dead friend on the floor headless. When his head turned back to Cassus he had already freed his blaster and leveled it at him. Even if he could get a shot off towards Cassus Krissik would just ensure he met his friend's fate. He dropped the blaster on the floor and showed his hands.

"Osik Cassus." A female cursed. Cassus turned his head towards the entrance where an armored woman stood blaster drawn and a rifle slung across her back a red sash was tried around her waist marking her as a journeyman protector. Cassus didn't need to see her face to recognize her. "You get back and you're already causing trouble in my town." She growled.

"Su cuy'gar Ember." Cassus greeted holstering his blaster, trusting that their local lawwoman to keep the situation under control. "I was just hoping to see you actually. I didn't know you were off duty."

"I'm not." She corrected striding towards the rodian and restraining him with a pair of stuncuffs. "These three have been selling spice in the spaceport for a few days now. I was going to take them alive but you had to kill them."

"Krissik's the one who killed the rodian." He explained and pointed to the devaronian on the table still bleeding from the head and arm. "He might still be alive through." Cassus couldn't hear her sigh through her helmet but he saw her shoulders slump. He turned to Liara who was still a little started. "You alright Liara?" he asked seeing her shake a little; it took him a moment to realize she'd probably never seen anyone get killed before. Compared to others she was taking it rather well.

"Yeah," she said nodding, "I'm fine." She reached behind the bar and grabbed a rag for him to wipe the flecks of blood off his armor and face. He thanked her and began cleaning. He turned back to Ember.

"I was wondering if there are any local bounties me and Krissik could possibly target, I lost out that last hunt and need to fix my losses." He explained to her knowing this would be a good a time as any to ask her as she checked on the devaronian's condition.

"Well you're off to a good start." She said cuffing the devaronian. "These three had a small price on their heads, chump change really."

"I'll take what I can get." He said turning back to Krissik. "You were right, more prey crossed our path."

Krissik smiled and slung the bowcaster across his back. "Prey isss plenty where we tread Cassusss."

* * *

The wind blew through the golden fields of wheat making the tall stalks ripple like waves of water across. It had been six years since he had first come here looking for home outside of the military. Once the Republic was reformed into the Galactic Empire he left the military hoping to find a home that had once been offered to him. During the Clone Wars he had met a mandalorian named Burnsk who'd offered to take him in. Burnsk had been a washed up veteran of the mandalorian civil war. He didn't exactly leave the war unscathed. The conflict had taken his son from him, and losing his son had cost him his marriage with Dari. She wasn't a mandalorian but she still married him her childhood friend and lover. She didn't even complain when he trained his child for combat and started taking him out on jobs across the galaxy. But once he had died on Galidraan at the hands of the jedi she couldn't stand to speak to him anymore. Burnsk hadn't even been there to fight by his son's side, and when he returned home to Dari she couldn't stand the sight of him. Despite the divorce Burnsk kept whatever contact he could with his wife and supported her however he could with his bounty hunting.

Burnsk didn't make it through the clone wars and had left him his armor. Cassus collected his armor after the end of the war and came here to see if he could make a home on Concord Dawn. He had told her the details of Burnsk's death during the war. She had eventually conceded to allow him to make a home here. But two years of no support from Burnsk and her family farm was in debt. Cassus had no intention of letting it fall through. Thus leading him to his current lack of credits, not that he had many to begin with.

The warm summer breeze blowed through the air and the wheat fields making him sigh in simple contentment. "The air tastesss good before harvest." Krissik said flicking his forked tongue out to savor the taste of the warm breeze. The trandoshan was right, in a few months everyone would be working these fields as hard as they could. He would probably be working the fields as well provided he didn't have any work to occupy his time. It's not like he didn't want to help around the farm. But we was a warrior, not a farmer.

Cassus turned down the road and began walking the path straight to Dari's house. A tall black haired man stood hunched over a harvest droid with a box of tools beside him. Liara's brother Kent was always hard at work no matter what the job was. They really didn't pay him enough for his effort. If Cassus could afford it he'd pay the lad for the work of twelve farmhands and extra for taking care of Dari when he was gone.

"I'm starting to wonder if you ever sleep." He said to the young man turning his attention away from the droid.

"Oh hello Cassus, I didn't know you were back." He said placing the drill back into the toolbox and grabbing a rag to wipe the grease from his hands. Cassus shook feeling his firm farm hardened grip through his armored glove.

"Just got in two hours ago, stopped by to see your sister. You might want to see if she's ok when you go home."

Kent's eyes narrowed, he really didn't like her working in that cantina. But they needed the make ends meet, after they'd lost their parents in the Clone Wars they were left living hand to mouth. Cassus had once even offered to train the kid to fight and take him along on jobs to earn bounties. I certainly paid better than being a farmhand with an employer who could barely pay you to begin with. Kent refused; he didn't want to chance leaving his sister alone should he die, even though he had assured her he'd make sure she was taken care of if anything happen to him. Both he and Liara were practically considered extended family. Still he didn't want her to worry about him while he was away.

"Had to teach a devaronian the cantina's policy on physical contact, he should know better by now but Liara looked a little shaken, I didn't even get the chance to finish my story to her. Go on home and see her." He ordered.

Kent looked back at the droid. "I haven't finished tuning up this droid, and I have five others that need to be looked at-"

"And they'll be here tommarow when you get back." Cassus put in cutting the young man off. "Go home, harvest isn't that close."

Kent nodded and moved to put the tool box away. "Thanks sir, oh and Dari's been waiting for you. Seems a message came for you while you were away."

That perked Cassus's curiosity. "Oh really? About what?"

Kent shrugged. "Don't know she wouldn't say." He said as Cassus moved into the house.

Dari was standing on the kitchen slicing some vegetables. "Your late." She said not even bothering to turn away from the cutting board. In truth Cassus hand managed to be home early since he didn't have to transport Fov'Lay to his client he had arrived a week ahead of schedule.

"Not really." He said correcting her.

"Did you get hurt?" she asked eyes fixed on the chopped greens in front of her, her wrinkled face frowned ever so slightly.

"No." he said, it was always the first question she asked when he got back from a job, as if she was expecting him to return with a prosthetic limb or a hideous scar. She never really even asked about the money or how successful he had been. Cassus wondered if Burnsk and his son had faced a similar four word interrogation when they were hunting.

"A message came for you." She said whipping her knife clean. "It's in the other room."

Cassus nodded and stepped into the living room where a small little holorecorder sat on the table for him. Krissik followed close behind. Cassus picked up the recorder and hit the button to play. It began to play showing the image of a tall human dressed in fine robes.

"Greeting Cassus Talsung, I'm Ellik Creen of the Imperial Senate. I have a proposition for you."


	3. A Special Job

"So what do you know about this work aside from the contact?" Gruka asked easing her ship out of hyperspace. The message they had received gave coordinates of a meeting location and the hutt was more than willing to give him a lift at the prospect of more work. The hutt had taken the losses of their last job rather well. If anything Gruka was happy they had at least managed to hurt the hutt cartel, if only a little bit. Cassus didn't know the details but Gruka had pitted at the very bottom of the hutt hierarchy, from what he could tell her talents and intellect were constantly sidelined by the higher ranking members of the cartel. As far as Gruka looked at it if you can't join then beat them. And from what Cassus could tell Gruka was a clever investor and she didn't possess any immediate need for a large sum of credits.

"Not a damn thing." He admitted looking out into the black mass dotted with stars. They had arrived early of the given meeting time. He wanted to make sure they didn't catch them unaware. He had no reason to believe this was a trap, or that anyone would go to the trouble to set a trap for him. But then again the best kind of trap was the type you didn't suspect or see coming. And so far this seemed too good to be true. Why would an Imperial senator need a bounty hunter? And if so why him? He was hardly a well-known bounty hunter. He couldn't think of a reason a senator would know of him let alone hire him. He wasn't Cad Bane after all.

"Just his name and a promise of a substantial reward for my trouble." He explained. "I'd never even hear of this Creen guy before, where's he from?"

"He's from Ord Mantell and from what I can tell he's pretty quiet in the senate. Doesn't make a huge splash in the political world. He's from a wealthy family and a wise investor so he certainly has plenty of credits sitting in his bank account." Gruka explained. "Maybe we'll figure out why."

The sensors beeped signaling something was exiting hyperspace. He turned back to the viewport and waited for the ship to emerge.

A massive star destroyer jumped into view. It was a large venator class like he had served upon back in the Clone Wars. Not exactly a top of the line ship anymore but a powerful and one to have on your side.

"Are you sure you want to work with this guy?" Gruka asked wondering why an Imperial senator would have a fully functional warship.

Cassus nodded. "Might as well hear the guy out."

* * *

Cassus's metal boots clicked in the corridors of the star destroyer Endurance. Or at least that's what he had been told it had been christen. He stared at the various crewmembers passing by him as he was led to the officer's lounge by a young midshipman. He kept his helmet on as he moved through the ship observing the young men and various aliens through his peripheral vision. They certainly weren't the clones that had once operated this ship.

"Who are these people?" he asked the midshipman through his helmets voice synthesizer.

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that." He said for the tenth time already. It seemed he wasn't at liberty to discuss much of anything with him.

The door to the lounge opened and the midshipman stepped aside to let him enter in on his own. Cassus stepped past him glad the ships security hadn't confiscated his weapons. Probably as a gesture of good will, he had to admit the gesture wasn't unnoticed by him.

Senator Creen stood at the lounges bar pouring himself a glass of some strange green liquid. "Glad to see you accepted by offer." He said smirking, grabbing his glass he strode over to a chair and Cassus followed.

"I haven't accepted anything." Cassus corrected sitting on the couch in front of him. "I'm just here to listen to your proposal, that's all."

The senator nodded and sipped his drink. "That's all I can ask really, can I get you anything to drink?"

"No thank you." He said waving his hand dismissively.

"Don't be coy ner vod." A rough voice said from the doorway. A large middle aged heavy built man made like a wookie stood grinning at him dressed in blue and black armor with a mandalorian helmet tucked under his arm and a heavy repeating blaster strapped to his back.

"Bradok?" Cassus said recognizing his friend.

"This ship's bar is pretty good all things considered; sure we can find your favorite whiskey. And you can't enjoy a cigar with that buy'ce on your head."

Things made a lot more sense now, Bradok was an old bounty hunting friend. When he and Krissik had done that job on Balmorra Bradok had been the one to gather the group together. Now that he thought about it I'd been a couple years since he had seen the man. That probably explained why these people knew about them, Bradok would be the kind to recommend him.

Cassus stood up and crossed the room removing his helmet and greeting the old man with a grin. He shook his hand. "Su cuy'gar Bradok I see you're still making friends with aruetii."

"And I see your still wearing a skirt." He joked indicating the kama Cassus wore around his waist.

Cassus laughed and punched his old friend in his armored shoulder making him take a step back. "You're just jealous that I'm prettier than you ner vod. If you want to wear a kama I know a place for you to buy them."

Bradok chuckled and looked around the room. "Where's Krissik? He's been following you around since you jumped on that grenade from what I've heard."

"He's in the hanger." Cassus explained walking over to the bar with his old hunting buddy for a drink; a familiar face did a lot when it came to trust and seeing one of his fellow mando's put him at ease. "That midshipman who escorted me said he was supposed to stay there, I'm surprised he didn't rip the poor kid to shreds."

Bradok chuckled pouring the two of them both a glass of whiskey and moving back to where the senator sat observing them. "Sorry about all the secrecy ner vod but we need to keep what we're doing under wraps." Bradok explained.

"So what are you doing?" Cassus asked lightly sipping on his whiskey. Bradok handed him a cigar, Cassus knew the fellow hunter was trying to loosen him up and make him more open minded into taking whatever job they had lined up. Cassus didn't mind a little bribe now and then but it wouldn't get them very far.

"I think we should wait for Aden to join us before discussing details." Senator Creen said as Bradok lit Cassus's cigar for him. "Where is he anyways?"

"In his chamber." Bradok answered sounding irritated. "Along with the girl, he'll join us when he's done with his lesson."

The door to the lounge opened again and a brown robed mirialan step inside. He had a bald green head and a long metal cylinder hung at his side. Cassus knew a jedi when he saw one and he was looking at one right now. He hadn't seen a jedi since the execution of Order 66, just before the war ended. Behind a him a young girl followed in tow. A red skinned zeltron with light lavender hair followed him across the room to where they sat. Cassus took note of her padwan braid and guessed the girl was somewhere between nine and ten years old.

"Sorry we're late." The mirialan said, "Edith was having trouble meditating."

The jedi took a seat beside senator Creen and to Cassus's surprise the young zeltron took a seat beside him on the couch her glassy blue eyes stared at him curiously. Cassus would have thought the cigar smoke or mandalorian battle armor would be a deterrent to a young jedi, not to mention he was a clone and his kind had killed most of the jedi. The green skinned mirialan didn't seem to forget considering how he stared at him rather cautiously.

"Forgive my padwan's boldness she's simply curious about you." Aden said trying to appear friendly despite his clear caution toward him. Did a flesh and blood clone make the jedi nervous? He liked the idea of that.

He looked over at the young girl who now looked away embarrassed. "Nothing to apologize for." He said patting the little girl on the head assuringly.

"Shall we begin?" Said the senator finishing the green contents of his glass.

"Let's," Said Bradok, "I think we've pulled Cassus's chain long enough."

"Indeed." Creen agreed. "Cassus we're what you could say a special interest group vying for independence from the Empire."

"You're rebels." Cassus said bluntly, the jedi was more than enough indication for that. The private warship made much more sense now. Bradok chuckled and Edith giggled beside him.

"Yes." Creen admitted. "We're rebels, and as such we are looking for skilled individuals for our cause."

"Not interested." Cassus said watching the tip of his cigar glow. "No offence but I've already served in one war that had nothing to do with me. I'm not going to fight in another."

"You misunderstand Cassus." The Senator said calmly.

"We have no desire to recruit you to our cause mercenary." Aden said. Cassus didn't like the way the jedi said mercenary. "We simply wish to hire you. We're of course willing to pay handsomely for your services." He explained.

"Why me? Bradok got a hair appointment?" Cassus said puffing on his cigar.

"I'm going to be busy Cassus. And don't worry Aden's going to be keeping you company ner vod." Bradok said. "The rest of our men aren't trained for this, and I'm sure you could use the credits."

Cassus looked over at the jedi and wondered if he really wanted to work beside a jedi who didn't seem to be thrilled at the idea of relying on a mercenary for their cause.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

Bradok took a holopad from his belt and activated it making a small image of a planet. "This is Dathomir." Creen said. "A small isolated planet on the outer rim and hope to an Imperial prison." He explained. "The planet is also home to a garrison of Imperial troops. Put simply we want you to extract prisoner 5982/8384 and bring him back to us alive."

Cassus watched as images of the planet's surface and garrison forces flashed on the holopad. Most of the terrain looked to be dense forests and swamps. A few AT-STs came into view flanked by a company of storm troopers. Whatever surveillance craft or team had picked these images up had gotten remarkably close.

"Do you think you can accomplish this with the help of general Aden?" he asked him.

Cassus blew out a plumb of smoke and thought it over. The problem was the jedi. They were always wild cards in his opinion. Some didn't have the kind of training or endurance he needed and many times found them falling behind in the middle of battle. Other times they were masters of combat taking control of the battle in ways he could never hope to. Cassus didn't like to bet on wild cards. "No I can't." he admitted. "Not if it's just the two of us." He said, "We would need a team, three more people at least."

Bradok chuckled. "I told you he'd say that. Even Cassus isn't blaster proof after all." He said crossing his arms. "No offense Aden but I think your overplaying yourself."

Aden didn't say a thing and Creen turned back to Cassus. "Do you think you can gather such a team together?"

"Only if you can handle their fee's." he said. "Do you have a pilot for the drop off and extraction?"

The senator's brows furrowed. "We believed you and Aden could pilot your way on and off the planet."

Cassus sighed and Bradok laughed. Civilians seemed to think words like Special Forces seemed to make people like him invulnerable to blaster fire. Like everything was some holomovie where the bolts never hit him and the enemies had the worst aim. Where they possessed every skill necessary for completing their objective. The problem some jedi had over civilians was that they sometimes believed moving a rock a few meters away gave them control of the situation.

"I know a pilot." Cassus said knowing Naya would be more persuasive with a promise of credits.

"I think I can round them all up in a week or two." He said listing off willing hunters in his head. A few came to mind, talent was certainly rare in this line of work.

"Well then report back to us in a week then, I look forward to hearing back from you Cassus." Creen said standing up. Aden followed suit. "Come along Edith." He called making his padwan stand off her seat next to Cassus and bow to him politely taking her leave.

"Walk with me." Bradok said draining his glass and grabbing for the whiskey bottle to refill his drink. He stood and headed out the door glass in hand.

"How's the farm?" he asked taking a healthy gulp of his drink.

"Out of debt." Cassus said biting down on the cigar and picking up his helmet. "But just barely."

"Good." He said smiling.

"What are you doing here?" Cassus asked. "Political jobs were never your type Bradok. So why are you attached to a senator?"

"He pays well and despite all this political work he's a reliable employer. Remember that assassin droid we stole on Balmorra? These guys are the one that footed the bill on that job."

Cassus let out another cloud of cigar smoke. "So you've been here for a long time… anything I should know about that jedi?"

"Aden? You've seen his type before, he's a good fighter but when he gets all mystic on you he thinks he knows better than anyone, moving rocks and all that." Bradok said finishing his glass in a big gulp.

"He doesn't seem to care much for me."

"Typical jedi is all, thinks he's morally superior since he doesn't take credits for waving that Jetii'kad around. Also I don't think you being a clone help's much with his opinion of you. Order 66 and all that."

It certainly wasn't easy being a clone in this universe. "I'll see you in a week Bradok so until them K'oyacyi."


	4. Assemble

"I thought clones were conditioned to be more obedient." Naya said over the holoterminal crossing her arms and throwing her lekku behind her head. "So why are you calling me for a job when I specifically told you not to bother me?!"

Cassus sighed, "Other clones were conditioned for obedience Naya, but I wasn't one of them." He explained. "And I thought you'd be kinder to a man offering you ten thousand credits easy. And that what's being offered up front. It's an even three hundred thousand once the jobs completed."

Cassus saw her eyes widen a little. "Three hundred thousand?" she said a little calmer.

"Pulse thirty up front, better than smuggling huh?" He asked smirking to himself. "What do you say are you that busy?" Naya paused and Cassus knew she was pretending to mull it over, Naya followed credits no matter how pissed she was with him over losing that last bounty.

"Fine, I'll do it." She said finally. "I'll be your damn pilot."

Cassus smiled, "ori'jate Naya I'll call you soon."

Despite popular opinion Cassus rather liked Tattoine. His armor could keep him cool and protected from the harsh elements and unforgiving heat. Once you got past that it was a quiet predictable place to visit. And best of all hardly anything changed here at all. He ducked in the entrance of the cantina and looked past the crowded bar to where a lonely weequay sat with his back against the wall. Renku noticed him as well through the crowd. Despite what most people thought weequay weren't all that stupid. They didn't talk much but Renku's actions and expertise said there was more to him than his simple vocabulary. Besides Renku spoke armaments and that was the only language he needed to speak anyways. Renku stood up from his booth and headed into the back room with no protests from the owners.

Renku may not be the best or wealthiest arms dealer on Tattoine but he was one of the most reliable he knew. And unlike others he was an expert with all his merchandise. And if he didn't have it in stock he was almost guaranteed to find it or another dealer who could. Renku was a true professional in his trade. And as Cassus had seen time and time again he knew how to use his merchandise if anyone tried to take it from him.

Cassus followed him into the back room. Renku undoubtedly thought he was here to procure some firepower. No reason Cassus couldn't buy a blaster or two before giving him the job offer. Renku wasn't a mercenary but his skills were handy and rumor had it he had been short on credits after a shipment of E-11s was seized by the Empire.

The tall weequay stood in the middle of the entrance. "Hello Cassus." He greeted. "Need blaster?"

"Sure why not, I'll browse your inventory." He said following him into the room. An exotic display of weapons lined the walls. Cassus looked over the displayed blaster rifles feeling content with his carbine and current blaster pistols. He picked up a small metal cylinder.

"Force pike." Renku said simply. Cassus extended the weapon into a meter long spear. "How much?" he asked liking the weapon.

"Three thousand." He said.

"How about a job instead?" Cassus asked putting the weapon down.

"Job?" Renku asked.

Cassus nodded. "I have a job lined up and I'm looking for some help." He explained putting the force pike down and looking at a compact Verpine shatter gun. "I was wondering if you would be interested in tagging along, we could use you and it's an easy thirty thousand up front. And a good five hundred thousand more later. Interested?"

Renku nodded. "Need the credits."

Cassus smiled. "People like us always need credits."

* * *

"You want me to do what?" Ember said taking a seat at the cantina's back table. Cassus waited for her to break the seal of her helmet and pull it off her head. Her short cut blond hair fell out and she set the grey, green and black helmet on the cold metal table.

"I want you for a job." He explained. "You and your rifle." Liara walked up to them and took their orders down before returning to the kitchens. Cassus leaned back in his chair and light a cigar from himself. Unhealthy as they were he doubted he'd die from them. And he'd remained at his physical peak for quite some time now. He could afford himself a vice or two, for morale.

"In case you haven't noticed Cassus I already have a job." She said brushing her red dyed bangs behind her ear. "I'm not exactly hard pressed for cash. Surely you know others who are desperate for the money and willing to shoot a blaster."

Cassus blew a smoke ring and make eye contact and looked into her hazel eyes through the floating hoop. "Desperate? Sure I know plenty of despite fools with blaster rifles." He agreed as Liara brought them there drinks. "I even know some desperate men who have a half a brain and a blaster." He sipped his whiskey a bit before continuing. "But I don't want half a brain and a blaster rifle. I want a whole brain and a Verpine sniper rifle. Namely yours." Ember raised an eyebrow at him as she picked up her mug of dark ale.

"And while I'm sure your job in local law enforcement has kept you financially secure I'm offering you more than you make in a whole year. Besides you have to be bored of spice dealers and drunken farmers. You might find Imperial stormtroopers to be somewhat refreshing."

Ember put her mug down and whipped her lips with the back of her hand. "Cassus do you know how much I make in a year?" She asked leaning forward on the table.

"I doubt you make five hundred thousand." Cassus countered earning him a pause as her eyes widened just a bit. She hid her face behind her mug of ale.

"How do you know this client even has the cash for all of us?" she asked. "You're sure he has credits?"

Cassus smiled. "He has them all right. The question is why you are so hesitant; I thought you'd be thrilled at the chance to leave the drunks and spice dealers behind."

"Oh I am." She said putting the mug down again. "But I just wanted to see if you could persuade me, give me a convincing argument to take time off work."

"Are you convinced" he asked puffing his cigar.

"You had me at drunken farmers and spice merchants. When do we leave?" she asked pulling a cigarette from one of her belt pouch. She put the smoke in her mouth and leaned forward across the table touching the end of her cigarette against Cassus's cigar igniting it.

"I'm leaving tommarow." He said as she enjoyed her smoke, slightly taken aback by her sudden action. "We'll be able to meet up with everyone in a few days. I suggest you pack your best gear and get ready for a long trek through the jungle. If things go smoothly it'll just be a hiking trip with occasional shooting and a rapid extraction."

"Are you expecting things to go smoothly?" she asked tapping the ash off her cigarette.

Cassus looked into her eyes. "Of course not, after all they never do."

* * *

Arella pulled her cloak around herself and her sleeping son. Bru'tal curled against his mother and shivered. The young grey faced nightbrother had fallen asleep almost instantly after they had settled down in this cave they decided to call home for tonight. She wanted to allow sleep to take a hold of her but caution would not allow her to drop her guard. She wasn't safe. Neither of them were. They had come to a dangerous place. She didn't know what danger was greater. The one in front or the one behind.

A twig snapped in the distance and she jumped in surprise. Bru'tal was jogged awake and she pressed her hand over his mouth pulling him into her. She didn't notice his horns uncomfortably pressing into her chin as she listened. Her free hand reached for her bone knife and she waited hearing footsteps approach. If it was her coven coming to hunt her she might have a chance to defend herself and her son. Despite his age Bru'tal was proficient with a spear and knife. But if it was the others, she didn't know how well she could last against them.

A tall figure stepped into view and the pale moonlight illuminated white armor. She froze clutching her knife that much harder knowing it would be fruitless against them. She held still ready to lash out with the force if necessary. She would reveal herself to her coven but she could protect herself from this man in armor. The problem was when there was one man in white armor there were definitely more.

The being passed by the mouth of her tiny cave not even so much as turning in her direction. Nothing more passed her by but she didn't relax her grip on her son she didn't drop the knife. As long as they were here they weren't safe. And so far she didn't know anyplace that was really safe.


	5. Hard Landing

Chapter 4 Dathomir

The hanger bay of the star destroyer Endurance was pretty lively all things considered. Some of senator Creen's men were giving Naya's ship a work over giving it a health coat of sensor resistant stealth paint. Naya wasn't anything but happy about the change.

"You owe me a new paint job after this is done Cassus." She pouted with crossed arms as the engineers sprayed on the glossy dark grey coat over the matt black and orange scheme she had grown attached to.

"Your ships going to be better off for it." He said sighting, he wondered how many times he had already paid for damages to her ships paint. He had apparently lost count. She always fished whatever credits she could from him. Paint didn't cost much but now Cassus wondered how much he had lost in accumulative credits. He wondered if he would still be without that ship if it hadn't been for Naya's greed and obsession with her ships cosmetic appearance. "Think how easy it will be to sneak past Imperial blockades."

"That's not the point idiot!" She cried delivering what he was sure a decent punch into his shoulder. Not that he could feel it through his beskar armor. If Naya had hurt her hand she was doing a good job of hiding it. "I mean look at her Cassus you can barely recognize her anymore with that shiny grey color. Couldn't they have at least left the orange in or given themselves different colors to work with?"

"I doubt rag tag groups of rebels have a lot of color options with their prototype stealth paint. Besides what's important about the orange stripes?"

Naya crossed her arms again and huffed. "It said that she was mine." Cassus sighed and walked away to let her pout at peace at her ships glossy new paint. The rest of the assembled team he had gathered were taking the opportunity to get some sleep while they could. They were maybe a few parsecs away from the target system so now was the time to catch sleep and gear up. Renku was undoubtedly looking through the ships armory taking the opportunity to grab whatever he fancied for the mission. Cassus wondered if the weequay was planning to resell whatever didn't get used. He doubted anything they had would wind up in his personal collection. He had taken a look at their armory earlier. It was well stocked but he didn't find anything special for his fancy. Apart from a few thermal detonators he hadn't taken anything, he was content with his armaments especially with his new collapsible force pike and the Verpine shatter pistol he had bought from Renku.

He looked across the hanger to see Aden speaking with his scarlet skinned padwan. He couldn't hear them from this distance but they seemed to be arguing. Was Aden losing his composure? It certainly seemed like it. The young Zeltron seemed to have brought the jedi to the point of evident frustration. Looked like the kid was a bigger handful that the jedi was willing to deal with.

Eventually the young girl gave up and stormed away leaving her exhausted master alone in the hanger bay. Now seemed to be as good a time as any to socialize with the man. It's not like he was expected the guy to be in a good mood during this mission. Cassus generally felt it was best to start first impressions when people are in a foul mood. They tend to look a lot better after that.

"Not happy with her bedtime?" he asked approaching the jedi from behind. Aden turned to face him looking like his usual collected self. Emotionless and unreadable. He certainly recovered quickly.

"She was hoping to accompany us on the mission." He explained. "She is a very willful child. A common trait of her kind to be sure."

That was putting it lightly. Most Zeltrons were notorious nymphomaniacs throughout the galaxy. Their passionate pursuit for physical pleasure was as far as Cassus knew unmatched by any race or culture. Cassus was even surprised to find one learning the discipline and abstinent ways of the jedi.

"Well that'll be good once she sees action." he commented. Aden didn't say anything but he hardly seemed to agree with him.

"Are things fine with your companion?" he asked indicating Naya who continued to mope at her ships new glossy color.

"Naya?" he said. "Believe me she's actually in not as pissed as she could be right now. You should see her when she's fueling her ship. Doesn't matter where we are the prices are always a few credits higher than they should be."

"Sounds frustrating." Aden said and Cassus chuckled.

"That's one way to put it I suppose." He said. "But she's one of the best pilots in the outer rim and well she keeps accepting jobs with me for some reason."

"I believe she enjoys your companionship." Aden commented.

"Maybe." Cassus conceded. "I prefer to think she just wants to torture me."

Aden shrugged. "You should gather your people, we'll be departing soon."

Cassus nodded. He had a feeling the two to three hours in hyperspace would feel like an eternity.

….

Renku fiddled with his FA-3 flechette launcher. That along with his old DLT-20A blaster rifle was his chosen weapons for this mission. Not to mention one of his collapsible force pikes and a 434 blaster pistol made him a formidable foe indeed. Krissik sat across from the weequay with his customary bowcaster along with a long handled vibro-axe sitting across his lap. Cassus had asked him what he planned to do with the large heavy blade. Rancors had been the trandoshan's response. The persistent hunter couldn't resist claiming one of the massive beasts as one of his many kills. Cassus had no doubt his goddess would be pleased with the kill. Aden carried nothing but his long hilted lightsabre. Jedi always believed that would be enough. Cassus wasn't convinced the weapon was ever truly enough. Force or not an ancient weapon was no match for a good blaster at your side.

Cassus checked his crono on his gauntlet. Just forty more minutes before they exited hyperspace. He moved into the ships lounge were Ember and Naya were chatting comfortably. Since meeting those two had become fast friends. It was turning into a nightmare for Cassus.

They both turned to look at him as he entered and erupted into a fit of laughter. Cassus had the sinking feeling they had been gossiping about him.

"Something wrong Cassus?" Ember asked taking a sip of her caf.

"Just checking that everyone's got there gear together. We don't know what conditions we'll he facing when we make the drop I need to make sure everyone's ready in case things are hot when we touch down." He explained.

Ember patted her Westar-34s on her hip and her Verpine rifle was straddled across her lap fully calibrated and ready for action. Cassus made a mental note to buy one of the sniper rifles once he had the money for it.

Naya had a DL-44 on her thigh but she wasn't going to be fighting. At least she wouldn't have to if this drop went clean. Being stranded with the bright orange twi'lek in hostile territory didn't sound like his idea of fun. Even if they were forced to drag her along with them he doubted he could convince her to smear mud on her obvious skin.

"From the way you say that Cassus you would almost hope to get ambushed at the drop." Naya said finishing off her cup of caf.

Cassus smirked. "Possibly I'm never really happy unless I'm under fire."

"Well in that case." Naya said pulling her blaster free of its holster. Cassus didn't say anything he simply folded his arms in front of his chest and looked at her. Naya sighed dropping the weapon back into her thigh holster. "Fine… tease."

"How's your kit looking Ember?" He asked not seeing her survival pack anywhere in the immediate vicinity. So far their time table for extraction was about a week. Once they touched down Naya was to land her ship in the designated extraction zone and wait for them to arrive with their prisoner. So far the Senator Creen had designated all information on prisoner 5982/8384 as need to know. That included race, age, medical condition and disposition.

"It's in the hold." She said. "And don't worry it's all together."

Cassus nodded. "Fine."

"You should see Renku's kit, that weequay's packed enough explosives to have a nuhur."

Cassus chuckled. A good time indeed, he was well aware that the arms dealer had enough blasting compound to destroy the entire prison of they needed to. And more than enough thermal detonators to blow it up all over again. Cassus hoped they wouldn't need to put it all to use, he was hoping to touch down unnoticed and keep the shooting to a minimum. It was doubtful they could perform this op in any other way. In truth he would have suggested they use an infantry assault force to take the prison by storm. But the customer wanted a small strike team to make the extraction and that's what he agreed he could deliver. And he could, but I'd be tricky tackling an imperial garrison in force. Once again people like senator Creen was one of the many people who translated Special Forces as meaning unstoppable force who could do anything. In truth any force this small would be dead against a garrison in an open fight. Cassus was trained to avoid open fights and take on as few hostiles as possible. Charging into a line of enemies was infantry's job. Not that he hadn't ever been up against overwhelming numbers before. Sometimes avoiding a fair fight was impossible. Occupational hazard, you couldn't outsmart your enemy forever.

"Don't worry Renku just likes to be prepared for anything. If he can't blast it into orbit he isn't happy. You know what the jedi's packing with him?" Cassus went over to the counter to pour himself a cup of caf wanting to be as awake as possible when they landed. He hoped to cover a lot of ground by the time they made camp for the night.

"I think he just stuffed his robes with a few ration bars. As far as I know the mystic doesn't have a kit, just a canteen and his laser sword along with maybe a comlink."

"If you not going to bring any provisions for yourself he might as well carry ammo and gear for the rest of us."

"No argument here." Ember agreed moving over to the counter to get a refill on her caf. "I just hope he doesn't expect us to shoot around him when he starts using that jetii'kad. It's bad enough he has to be within spitting distance to use that thing but we're expected to hang back and support him while he's in our line of fire."

"You get used to it, I had to do the same thing during the war believe me you learn to deal with it. Jetii can handle themselves in a fight just shoot at whatever he's not cutting up with his shiny stick."

"And what if he's stealing all the kills?" she asked sipping her fresh cup of hot caf.

"Then save your ammo and have yourself a cold glass of ale while he attracts every imperial trooper within a kilometer of himself."

"Sounds troublesome what you do." Naya said still sitting in her chair twiddling her thumbs. "I can't imagine hiking kilometers of rough terrain waiting for some stormtrooper to blow my head off."

"No you prefer to sit your shebs on this ship where they need a rocket launcher to get to you."

Naya smirked. "Exactly, safe secure and no one can touch me."

"And you miss out on all the fun to be had."

"You saying my ships boring Cassus?"

Cassus downed his cup of caf in a single gulp and replaced his helmet on his head feeling the warm contents warm his body. "No Naya your ships has plenty of entertainment I'm sure but if you keep sitting on your shebs all day you're going to get fat."

Naya raised an eyebrow looking like she was considering shooting him again. "You calling me fat clone?"

Cassus walked away before she decided to do anything rash. "No ast'ehutla."

Ember snickered as he left them. "He just called me fat didn't he?" Naya fumed.

"No." Said Ember truthfully. "He called you fatty."

….

How many times had he checked his kriffing already? Cassus didn't know. It was his way of easing his nerves. Because if there was one thing he could depend on it was his equipment. As long as you kept your blaster clean, your knives properly honed and your armor systems in check all that was left to go wrong was human error. Take care of your gear and it'll take care of you. It will never betray you; you can't bribe a blaster to point a certain direction. It'll serve whoever holds it and only a careless warrior let his weapon fall into the hands of an enemy.

Cassus checked his crono and turned to his gathered crew slapping a fresh power cell into his carbine. "Ten minutes." He announced to them seeing them visibly stiffen. Adrenalin would be high during touchdown. Chances are they would have a safe uneventful landing, but they all knew touching down was one of the most dangerous moments in a mission. It was complete exposure. Naya would take the ship of the LZ and wait for them to bring their prisoner back. That stealth pain had better work or they would have no chance of getting off world. What little Intel had been uncovered said that no hyperspace capable ship were allowed to land on the planet's surface and they all comm traffic was monitored meaning all electronic communication would have to be kept to a close ten meter range.

The only one who didn't visibly look nervous was Krissik who kept still with his vibro axe. Cassus imagined his thoughts were more focused on the possibility of hunting a rancor on the misty planet. But then again Cassus couldn't recall ever seeing the lizard nervous, maybe trandoshan's didn't show the same signs of natural fear as humans and weequay did.

Aden was sitting in his seat with his eyes closed looking like he was in some kind of unnatural jedi calm. He'd seen it before during the war. It hadn't impressed him at all and it certainly didn't impress him now. Shutting away everything didn't help you grasp the situation or make better decisions. And it was just a front anyways. He'd seen jedi get scared. When you were left bleeding to death out on the battlefield everyone got scared. Everyone screamed for their mothers' even jedi, everyone except clones. They didn't have anyone to call out to, no one except their brothers. It was all they had.

Cassus watched the green skinned jedi as he stayed in his strange trance and block out the rest of the world, his mind everywhere but in the here and now.

The ship shook violently making Aden fall from his seat and Cassus grab onto the sides of the wall to stabilize himself. Cassus keyed his comm. "Naya what's going on?" he asked feeling the ship rock again.

"Looks like I got spotted got three Tie Interceptors on my tail." She explained into his ear. "They didn't scan me so it looks like a patrol just saw me is all. I'm going to try and lose them."

"What about our drop off?" he asked feeling his credits slip through his fingers again. He really could never catch a break.

"We'll have to abort, sorry Cassus but I can't touch down while being flanked by fighters." Cassus looked around the cabin at the gathered faces all able to hear them over there coms. "What about those escape pods? Couldn't we take those?" he asked exploring options.

"Those are expensive?" she said possessively.

"I'll pay you back." He said moving towards the pods and reaching for the hatch everyone moving towards the other pods.

"Cassus if I fire you guys off in one of those pods those fighters might target you and take you out of the sky before you can reach the surface."

Cassus stepped into the pod closing the hatch behind him. "Then fire them all."

…..

Arella turned her face to the sky as a black shape raced across the darky blanket of starts. Her son stared at the glowing smaller ships as they chased after the large black one green streaks of fire lighting up the night sky. Four glowing orbs came out of the large black ship and fell to earth glowing hot. One of the glowing orbs fell their way in front of them striking the earth and kicking up rocks and dirt.

Arella covered her son's body with her cloak shielding him from the hail of mud and stones. Small pebbles peppered her body making her wince in pain. Bru'tal shook from within her cloak trembling as the rocks hit him. the hail of stones ceased and Arella looked up to the black forest.


	6. Welcome to Dathomir

Ember kicked pushed open the hatch of the escape pod and rushed out of the metal box her Westar34s out and at the ready scanning the misty forest. She had specifically had the two blaster pistols painted matt black so they didn't catch the light. All her weapons were dull colors that didn't shine to revile her position. Seeing her and stopping her may have been two different things but she still preferred to get the jump on whoever she was going to arrest. She clicked her back teeth and changed the view on her HUD changing over to the infrared view to get a better idea what was out there. The thick forest outside was filled with fog and she wanted maximum visibility. She ran into the woods trying to make sure she didn't disturb the foliage as she cleared a good distance away from the escape pod. She doubted she had a lot of time before the imperials sent a drop ship full of stormtroopers to inspect the pod. They had established a several RV points before embarking on Naya's ship. Lucky for her she only had about five clicks to the first RV point. Once she was sure she was a safe distance from the pod she holstered her pistols and unslung the duroplast case off her back and opened it up to retrieve her Verpine sniper rifle, she checked her prized weapon making sure it was in good condition after the rather rough landing she had to go through. As much as she liked the weapon it wasn't very durable and if it wasn't for the case it would probably be in pieces by now. She switched her HUD to its normal view and shouldered the weapon content it had survived the landing undamaged. She looked through the scope and scanned the forest she closed the case and slung it across her back again. She took off her pack and checked the contents grabbing several spare power cells for her blasters pistols along with a few thermal detonators and a couple of ration bars. In case she ever needed to leave her pack behind she would have some spare ammo and rations. And as long as her Verpine had a charge she could just load stones into the weapon. And now that they were stranded on this rock they needed to make use of whatever they had on hand. If what they had been told in there briefing was true Imperial forces forbid any ship with a hyperdrive to land on the planet. Meaning if Naya couldn't manage to shake off those Tie interceptors and land at the extraction point then there_ shebs_ were stuck here with no chance to escape. Not unless Cassus had a plan to get aboard the orbiting star destroyer and steal something capable of flying them home.

Ember chuckled to herself, knowing Cassus he'd probably try to fly back in the star destroyer itself. She wondered if the other ARC troopers had been as bold during the Clone Wars. She had a hard time imagining Cassus dressed in white armor standing at attention. Aden may in fact be the first and so far only jedi she had met but if the others were like him before the Great Purge than she couldn't imagine how anyone could stand taking orders from people such as him. She had overheard Cassus telling Liara some of his old war stories. He had mentioned that he was under orders to treat every jedi as a superior officer regardless of age experience or even rank within their own order. Padwan's with no formal training in leading men into battle. If Aden fought during the Clone wars all those years ago he couldn't have been more than a teenager. Aden was maybe three to four years older than her meaning he couldn't have been more than sixteen maybe seventeen by the time the war had ended. Only a kid when the war had begun yet with the lives of formally trained men in his hands to do with as he pleased. She had been thirteen when the war had ended, back in a completely different life. Her teenage years had been far from pleasant. But then again Cassus was living a completely different life, he was the same age as she was, though he didn't look it, he was physically twenty six years old and had years of combat experience under his belt. She didn't even know how to use a blaster at the time; she was living a comfortable life on Botajef. So very different from when before she became a _Mando'ade, _before she had met Cuyan. Ember shook the thoughts from her head. There was no use in thinking about that right now, all it would do was depress her and distract her from her job. She loaded in a magazine into the Verpine rifle and reminded herself not to get caught up in the past at times like this. It didn't matter right now; she was a mandalorian and no longer that naive little girl she used to be. And the dead, well they were dead. She didn't know if they had passed onto the Manda, she didn't know if she truly even believed in the Manda, but she missed them dearly. She chambered a round and moved out ready to make the first RV point in due time. All that caf she drank earlier was certainly going to be put to good use. She scanned the area again with her infrared HUD and switched to night vision. As much as her infrared vision helped with all this fog, it was disorienting at times and didn't help against stealth armor designed to be invisible to infrared vision, she wouldn't put it past some imperial commandos to have such armor and now that the empire knew they were here it made it all the more likely she had to keep her eye out more for stormtroopers and not the local wildlife. The sound of repulsors made her stop and take cover ducking down behind a jutting root her head to the sky and, she leveled her rifle. An imperial drop ship flew overhead skimming the treetops scanning the forest with spotlights. They passed right over her head flying towards the location of her pod. She stood from her hiding spot and stepped over the massive root. It wouldn't be long before that drop ship released the troopers it carried and the hunt would be on. She would need to pick up the pace if she planned to get away. This area would be crawling with stormtroopers any minute now.

A soft crunching of leaves alerted her and she rounded on a tree with her rifle at the ready. A young black haired woman stood with her back against a tree. She was dressed in furs and leather looking half-starved and frightened to near death. She clearly wasn't a stormtrooper. More than likely she was one of the planets natives. From the look of her she was a pale skinned human. She clutched a primitive bone knife in her hands she doubted the weapon could even pierce the bodysuit of her armor, Ember lowered her rifle. The last thing she needed right now was to waist a perfectly good shot of her rifle on a harmless native, besides she could be useful to them. If she really was a native she could have useful knowledge of the local terrain and possibly know of ways to get close to the Imperial prison.

She kneeled down to the woman's level her rifle braced across her knee. The woman scanned her with her eyes petrified. "Can you understand me?" she asked trying to make herself sound as friendly as possible. The woman clutched at the tree behind her as if it was her safe haven. Ember sighed putting her rifle down and reaching for her _buy'ce_ and breaking the seal pulling her helmet off for the woman to see her face. She imagined with her helmet still on she looked like just another stormtrooper to the poor girl. "It's ok." She said still unsure if the young woman before her could understand her or not. "I'm not going to hurt you. " She moved to grab a ration bar from her food pouch making sure to not seem threatening to the girl. "Are you hungry?" she asked knowing she had to be. Ember knew malnutrition when she saw it; she had once confiscated a ship from a rodian that had caused a ruckus in town. The cargo hold had been full of twi'lek slaves all scared and starved with that same look in their eyes as this girl right here. The woman nodded her head reluctantly and reached out to take the flavorless food.

A hard stone suddenly stuck her from the side knocking her down. She turned her head to see a young horned zabrak charging at her with a large stone clutched in his hand.

"Bru'tal!" the woman yelled at him as he pounced on her. Ember punched him in his stomach sending the kid back. The blow didn't seem to faze the kid as he swung at her hitting her beskar plate. A dull thud sounded from the blow and the stone crumbled at the strike. Ember gave the child a nasty right hook to the face knocking him down. A sudden invisible force swept her up off her feet crashing her into a tree and pinning her there. "Don't touch my son!" she said standing up with both her hands stretched out in front of her. The grey and black skinned zabrak was lying on the ground not moving. "Sorry." She stammered trying to move her arms only to find them pinned to the tree trunk by the same invisible field that held her up, she knew now the woman could speak Basic and talking her down might be the only way she had to get out of whatever this was. The sharp whistle sounded through the air and dart stuck the woman in the side sending her down to the forest floor. The invisible grip on her released instantly and she fell to the ground catching herself on her feet. Her hands immediately went for her blasters drawing them and sighting them to the direction of the dart.

"_Udesii Emb'ika." _It was Cassus; his carbine was in hand as he approached her checking on the woman. "What the _shabla _happened here?" he asked slinging the weapon. Ember holstered her own weapons relieved she didn't have to deal with a platoon of stormtroopers quite yet.

"Met a couple of the locals." She explained picking up her Verpine rifle. "I think you can guess what happened as a result."

Cassus pointed to just above his right eye. "How'd you get that?" he asked. It took a second for Ember to realize what he was talking about. The adrenaline could do some crazy things; she didn't even notice she had blood in her eye. She wiped it away and dug through her medical pouch for the bacta spray.

"That little _osik _got me good." She explained closing her eyes and letting and tapping the spray to close the wound. She would probably have a decent bruise from the little scuffle. Cuyan used to call the bruises she would get beauty marks. He'd just brush the ugly black marks off as symbols of her attractiveness; it was one of the things she had liked about him.

"Who this little guy?" He asked sounding rather impressed. "You must be losing your touch if such a little kid could get the jump on you."

"He got lucky." She said, "I didn't have my _buy'ce_ on."

"I can see that." He counted checking the kids body. "Well he's still alive."

Ember sighed inwardly of relief, sure the little brat may have got her good and embarrassed her but the last thing she wanted to do was kill a kid.

"Let's drug them, cuff them, and drag them. See what we get from them when they wake up." Cassus said preparing an anesthetic for the kid; his mother was already out like a light. They got some plastoid cuff around them both. Ember returned her helmet to her head and picked the kid up while Cassus threw the woman over her shoulder like a sack of grain. "Barely an hour on this rock and I'm have to fight children and witches. This is one Shabla place we landed on I'll tell you that."

"Welcome to Dathomir." Cassus said.


End file.
